The living room is undoubtedly the busiest room in the house, with the Home Theatre System as the focal point. Long gone are the days of watching a simple TV set, we now long to be entertained and therefore want an entire experience when it comes to television.
For this reason, it can become a bit of a headache to decorate the living room. Taking into consideration all its paraphernalia, such as screens, decoders, DVD players and surround sound, the living room or - as it has become known - TV room’s décor must be functional and comfortable.
The Theatre Experience
Having a home theatre system allows you to enjoy the cinema experience at home, complete with surround sound and large screen. There is no specific system, but rather a combination of components chosen to suit your living space, requirements and budget. The key is knowing what is available and decided what effect you want. Experts agree that it’s always best to shop around to find the brands you prefer at the best prices.
Get the Picture
There are a number of television sets and projection systems out there, each with pros and cons. Decide what you’re looking for before you make your purchase.
Conventional TV sets have affordable tried and tested technology, but are bulky and outdated. If you want the Hi-Tech look than this option is not for you.
Plasma screens do look sleek as they are thin and space saving, but are expensive and use a lot of electricity.
Make sure your plasma screen has anti-burn technology to extend the life of the screen and decrease the effect of burn-in*.
LCD (liquid crystal display) TV’s are also thin and space saving, but use half the electricity of a plasma screen. An LCD screen is better for static images and doesn’t support fast-moving image play back. Consider the dot pitch, i.e. the smaller the dot-pitch the sharper the image.
HDTV (High Definition Television) has a greater resolution than traditional TV sets. HDTV supports digital broadcasting such as DSTV. It’s less expensive than LCD and plasma screens and has a better quality that conventional TV sets.
Projectors are much cheaper than plasmas and LCD’s for a big image, but a very dark room is required for a quality image. Rear projectors are best suited for a true home theatre experience, but are bulky and the picture quality is not as good as plasmas and LCD’s.
Measure the depth and width of the set to make sure the screen can fit in your living room.
Storage Cabinets
It’s important to select suitable storage for your TV, even if you have a plasma or projector, as you still need space to keep the remotes, decoders, DVD players and sound system. A coffee table height unit with shelves below is a good trendy option.
If you don’t have a plasma or a projector screen, then you have three basic options when it comes to TV storage units: freestanding, built-in and modular units.
Focal Point Challenge
The TV set can easily become a focal point in a living room, but on the pages of a décor book, you’ll never see a TV set in a designer lounge. Therefore it’s no wonder that décor experts agree that its best to keep the TV set in a less prominent place. The most obvious solution is therefore in a cabinet behind closed doors, which can be opened when the TV is on. Other solutions include; a large work of art or a mirror on another wall which can lead the eye away from the TV, or a focal wall painted in another colour or with a different texture can also help.
The ideal height for a TV set is between 700mm and 900mm from the floor, so you don’t have to tilt your head up or down.
*Burn-in, simply put, is damaged pixels, whose phosphors have been prematurely aged and therefore glow less intensely than those of the surrounding pixels on the plasma TV screen. The damaged or "burned-in" pixel has developed a "memory" of the colour information that was repeatedly fed to it in a static manner over a period of time. That phosphor colour information has become etched into the plasma TV glass, hence the term, "burn-in." Once these phosphors are damaged, it cannot be replaced or fixed.
"HDTV (High Definition Television) has a greater resolution than traditional TV sets. HDTV supports digital broadcasting such as DSTV. It’s less expensive than LCD and plasma screens and has a better quality that conventional TV sets."
I believe this statement is incorrect, as a current model LCD is capable of displaying both HD and Non HD or HD ready type signals.
To clarify, a full HD LCD panel will work brillianty with a full HD source such as a Blu-Ray player, or Playstation 3
It will also work well with the HDPVR from Multichoice, although this is giving a lower resolution picture, of 1280x720, as opposed to the 1920x1080 of full HD. These are both better than a conventional TV which has a much lower resolution.
So write with care please.
bobby on 15/05/2010